Fire Erupts at Hurricane-Hit Louisiana Chemical Plant
By Liz Hampton and Jessica Resnick-Ault
Wire Service Content
(Reuters) – Louisiana Governor John Bel Edwards on Thursday asked residents in three southwestern communities to stay indoors with windows and doors shut as a plume rose from a chemical fire at a chlorine plant in an area hit by Hurricane Laura.
Louisiana State Police said the fire was at a BioLab plant in Westlake and firefighters were at the scene working with the plant operator to control the blaze. No injuries or fatalities were reported.
Pictures posted on social media showed billowing smoke spread over an area of industrial plants. Police said the blaze was contained at the BioLab site.
Edwards asked residents of Westlake, Moss Bluff and Sulphur to take shelter and police halted traffic on Interstate 10 near Westlake due to the smoke. The road is the major link connecting Louisiana to Texas and Mississippi.
BioLab did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The business manufactures chlorine-based products for home cleaning and swimming pools, according to its website. The company was acquired in 2013 by KIK Custom Products Inc, which did not immediately reply to a request for information.
Laura slammed into the Louisiana coast as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 150 miles per hour (240 kmh) that destroyed buildings and killed a 14-year-old girl. It weakened overland to a Category 1 storm and was headed north toward Arkansas.
(Reporting by Liz Hampton in Denver and Jessica Resnick-Ault in New York; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and Matthew Lewis)